The statement added: “It’s understood two males have been injured in the collision outside the city cemetery.

“The extent of their injuries is unknown at present.”

One man has been arrested.

Sinn Fein councillor Michael Donnelly was at the scene shortly after the incident.

“I got a call at around 12pm to say that there had been a terrible traffic incident,” he said.

“I’m from the community and went to the scene straight away and it was pure carnage and panic.

“There was a lot of people angry and upset. The PSNI, fire service and ambulance were all there and working frantically on the injured people.

“This is a very serious incident. Three people from our community and from well respected families have been caught up in this.

“There is real sadness and anger in our community.

“We need to make sure that anyone who witnessed it report it to whoever they feel comfortable with. I’m making myself available.

“The important thing is to come forward and make sure the person involved is brought to book. We don’t want to see the person responsible for this back on our streets.

“It’s a double tragedy – people were paying their respects to another well known member of the community who had died and as they were leaving that funeral to go home they were caught up in this carnage.”

I was down at the Pride March when I was notified of a horrendous incident on the Whiterock road today. News is still filtering out, but there's no doubt that's it's a dark day for our community. My thoughts and solidarity to those affected.